Culture in Everyday Life Essay

I experienced culture shock about 7 years ago, when I became friends with a Philippine woman. Her name is Christeen Humangnan; she was born and raised in the Philippines. It wasn’t until Christeen was 14 years old, that she moved to the United States. She would tell me how spoiled we are as Americans. She lived in the Philippines without electricity, a television, and rarely had money for new shoes. Although those customs are different from ours in the United States, there is one culture she practices that stood out. It is called pagmamano. Pagmamano is a Filipino culture that has survived the times and foreign influences. This is the practice of respect by asking for an elder’s hand and touches one’s forehead while bowing. One usually asks by saying â€Å"Mano po.† Mano po translates to â€Å"may I have your hand please.† In return, the elder blesses the person. In the Filipino culture the elderly, refer to parents and grandparents, cousins, or close family friends. It is usually done when one visits a family, when meeting these people outside of the homes or after a religious activity. It is also common to bring children to their godparents during Christmas time to pay respect with this custom. I found this custom in the Filipino culture to be shocking to me because, I have never seen it done before. I also see so many children act disrespectfully to their elders in this country, so it was a blessing in my eyes to see the elderly being respected. Now that I have learned of pagmamano, I participate, and have taught my own children the meaning of this culture. We do not use it in our own culture, but whenever we visit my friend Christeen and her family, we show enough respect to her and her family by participating in pagmamano. I would say that the value assumption was slightly an issue when I first  learned of this practice. I thought to myself, this is not the Philippines, we don’t do that here. After seeing the custom in person and how respectful the adolescents are to their elders, I realized I was wrong. I was happy to learn of it and see the children learning respect. You don’t see many American children show this type of respect. Since cultural relativism supports the theory that there is no absolute right and wrong. Instead, the morals, standards and behaviors that vary among cultures must be taken into consideration. I was wrong to assume that pagmamano should be practiced in the Philippines. I think it is a great way to show respect. At first I thought to myself, that’s weird! Then, I realized that we do â€Å"weird† things too. She considers some of the things we do as â€Å"weird,† when we considered it normal. We just have to accept the fact that we all live together in this country that participates and allows different cultures. I am thankful that I learned of the pagmamano culture, and I respect it.

Mcdonald’s and Kfc: Recipes for Success in China

McDonald’s and KFC: Recipes for Success in China 1. Assess KFC’s strategy in China? What should KFC do next? KFC’s strategy in China firstly aimed to be the first leader in foreign quick –service restaurant. KFC differentiated itself from other local Chinese fast food restaurants by not only providing normal standard KFC foods but also offering customers with high quality service with different concept and ambiance. Moreover, KFC adapted itself in the foods variety to match with customer needs. Its menu localization brings the concept of â€Å"American brand with Chinese characteristics.People are significant resource for KFC. Thus, KFC started talent development since the first day it started by offering training and providing career growth within the company. This talent development program, later on, greatly supported the expansion of KFC in China successfully. During crisis, KFC created opportunities for itself by expanding aggressively in China. Neve rtheless, KFC developed its own logistics system with STAR system. The own logistics system helps KFC to lower the costs, control the quality and deliver products and services to customers faster.With all these strategic plans, KFC succeeds in China greatly. To compete with other foreign fast foods which are coming to China in the near future, KFC should consider backward integration. KFC may set up its own farm to raise its own chickens and other major ingredients in order to control the quality and safety of the materials. This farm will be the only supplier for all the franchised KFC stores in China in order to control the quality and standards of foods. KFC should also set up training center.All the employees should be trained here and hence, to control the quality of the services in different stores. Nevertheless, in order to gain customers trust and loyalty, KFC should also focus on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) to show its concern of brining the best quality foods to customers while protecting environment and society. KFC should maintain its core competency of its products while keep developing its food innovations to reach its changing customers preferences and cultures. 2. Assess McDonald’s strategy in China?What should McDonald’s do next? McDonald strategy in China was to maintain the first world standards as a global brand. It focused to keep its quality of food consistency and food preparation process. It first kept the food menu instead of adaptations to local preference. With this strategy, McDonald did not gain great success at the beginning as KFC did. However, it gradually learned to adapt to local preferences by offering different menu to match with customer needs. It also expands in China through joint venture or sole proprietor instead of franchising.It also took a strategic move to link with China’s SinoPec and build drive-through outlets. It offers convenience to customers by offering 24-hour service. Though, it didn’t use aggressive expansion, gradual expansion of McDonald helps it learn and develop itself steadily in the long term. In order to compete with other fast foods business in China, McDonald should keep its core competence of high quality standards. However, it should also start its R&D center in China in order to understand Chinese market and hence, to offer the right products to match with customer needs.This may be done through more variety of foods. To maintain high quality of products, McDonald had fewer suppliers who could meet its standard. This might bring higher costs to McDonald. In order to compete in the long run, McDonald should find lower-cost source of materials. Similarly to KFC, it should consider backward integration to have its own farm to be its source of major raw materials and ingredients. This will not only result in lower costs but also in higher quality of the raw materials.Moreover, with the concept of 24-hour service, McDonald should consi der to have more variety of foods such as night meal which may include warm milk or smaller-size burger, more variety of salads instead of only heavy big meal. It should also try to differentiate itself from other restaurants by offering different services such as delivery service, fast-process-time-guarantee service (this is to ensure its fast service), and nice ambiance (as it also opens at night, instead of providing normal counter seats, McDonald may offer the sofa seats so that customers can come and relax, work or have a small meeting here).With this concept, customers may not only perceive McDonald as a fast food restaurant but more like a cafe or nice informal meeting point with their friends and colleagues during both rush hour and non-rush hour. This may help McDonald to capture more customer groups and hence generate more revenues.

The Paradoxes of Nietzsche's Introduction of valuesinto Modern Culture Essay

The Paradoxes of Nietzsche's Introduction of valuesinto Modern Culture - Essay Example The actual definition of â€Å"values†, its appreciation and proper evaluation has always remained an issue of great debate as well as dilemma throughout the entire domain of philosophical development. The progress of human civilization, cultural influences, and adoption of different attitudes towards interpretation of such influences have provided several dimensions in the context of defining values, or from the ethical perspective what can be said to be moral values. The issue of debate or dilemma evolves from the very basic argument that is there any universal definition of values or moral values or morality? During various phases of human civilization and contextual philosophical dimensions values have been interpreted in different manners. What is regarded as values, or morality for people belonging to a particular socio-cultural context in a specific time period, may not have the same acceptance among people living in another socio-cultural context and a different phase of time. However, the terms, â€Å"values† or â€Å"morality† or â€Å"moral values† receive a universal connotation empowered with the common appreciation that while living in a social context, individuals are required to abide by certain codes of conduct or norms that, besides ensuring his/her enjoyment of social rights as a human being to the best extent possible, also aims inciting such motivation among the inhabitants so that same scope of enjoying human existence can be provided to fellow counterparts. Truth behind this observation receives a strong foundation if Gert’s (1998) opinion on moral values or morality is taken into consideration: â€Å"Morality is an informal public system applying to all rational persons, governing behavior that affects others, and has the lessening of evil or harm as its goal† (Cited in Alavudeen, Rahman, and Jayakumaran,

Environmental studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental studies - Essay Example A region’s environment and climatic conditions will usually determine its adaptations do handling of the environmental problems that arise. Ideally, at their core, the environmental problems faced and the available solutions are culturally and organizationally rooted in the society (Howard-Grenville, 2007). In this topical discussion, Michael Maniates points out that it is the environmental imaginations of people that are too narrow or egocentric in offering solutions that can deal responsibly with environmental problems. Furthermore, James Speth notes that the lack of a new consciousness in the society has also led to the deep embeddedness of the environmental problems in the worldview. However, Lynn White Jr. clearly spells this out when he recognizes that there is a cultural aspect in the creation and provision of viable environmental solutions, and that non-reliance on technological, scientific and economic solutions should not be at the expense of the culture. In all thes e aspects, I would like to take a stance and agree with these ideologies and state that solutions to environmental problems cannot be sought through the same worldviews that caused them. The world’s biggest problem environmentally is to overlook the social dimensions regarding environmental problems and concentrate on the economic and technological aspects. In essence, the provision of the solutions should be based on totally different cultural perspectives. First, there is an urgent need for control of the population growth in most countries. Nearly everyone relies on the environmental resources for survival and in cases of overpopulation the available resources become strained thus, adverse effects on the environment. Coupled with unsustainable development, the results on the environment are usually adverse and if not corrected, may lead to environmental degradation (Johnston, 2012). Second, it is true that the economical and technological activities too have a direct impac t on the degradation of environmental conditions. However, the core causes are personal beliefs, cultural norms and societal institutions. In line with the personal beliefs, an environmentalist or environmental program manager will have to ensure that the way people act and think towards the environment is changed for them to be able to appreciate its benefits. For instance, if a person constantly thinks about cutting of trees and dumping of garbage without considerate thoughts, bringing that person into accepting the benefits of maintaining environment will begin by culturally transforming his thoughts and acts. Finally, the solutions to the environmental problems need to be based on the addressing of the lack of attention that has been propagated towards the achievement of improved environmental sustainability. This can be possible when a consideration for the full scope that cultural shift presents in the real world today is critically analyzed and idealized. Consequently, the va rious forms of individual and organizational barriers towards environmental preservation need to be enhanced as only through these can the causative effects become easily mitigated upon. Better still, there needs to be an informed understanding of the available strategies that can be applied towards the overcoming of organizational barriers that hinder environmental preservation and restoration activities. Some of these strategies can be applied based on the societal understanding of

Reasons for the Apparent Rise of New Religious Movements Assignment

Reasons for the Apparent Rise of New Religious Movements - Assignment Example The phenomenon behind new religious movements (NRMs) is, arguably, not new, since NRM is concerned with a groups of religious bodies or movements that entail an isolated and particular set of attributes, that have been assigned to the fringes of the dominant religious culture and by elements within the secular culture, in context of a set of religious movements that exist in a relatively contested society as a whole. It has been observed that "[m]any religious movements were born and prospered, either as the development of well-known religious traditions or as the result of a syncretic approach to different religions. In many cases their doctrines and practices differed widely from those of the mainstream religions: moreover, the "closed" structure of some of these groups, the unconventional behavior of their members, and some tragic events in which they were involved gave rise to considerable social alarm" (Ferrari, 2006, p.2). Thus, the NRMs have in many cases appropriated the anti -systemic feelings in an efficient manner and have successfully channelized into themselves in order to achieve their (un)declared goals vis--vis legitimate social and political institutions. II. When Religion Returns to a Haunted New World Order Interestingly, NRMs are often identified as 'sect' in a number of European languages "("secure" in French, "settle" in Italian, "sea" in Spanish, "Sekte" in German)" (Ferrari, 2006, p.2). Mostly, such sects are formed by a "group of dissenters who separated from a larger religious group" and popularly indicated as a collection of a "narrow-minded and fanatical group of people" (ibid, p.2).

Impact of Positive Airway Pressure Among Obstructive Sleep Apnea Essay

Impact of Positive Airway Pressure Among Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients - Essay Example This amounted to a study population of 15,424 individuals, who were then followed for a minimum of 12 months and a baseline of 24 months to determine what if any health impact PAP might have been having on treatment. Of those participants, approximately ten percent did not use PAP while the remaining 90% did. Furthermore, the study designers controlled for previous illness by eliminating anyone who had a previous diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, to ensure that these results did not bias the sample. The study measured health effects by measuring the rates of hospitalization among those using PAP to those who were not. They measured this using two different metrics: total hospitalization and hospitalization related to OSA. OSA is associated with a wide number of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so any hospitalization for these reasons (which obviously constitute a large number of total hospitalizations) would be considered OSA related hospitalizations (1). The study found a statistically significant (p

What i lern from class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What i lern from class - Essay Example Mentally, the sport has made me alert. I always used to be lazy but I found that to play well one must have one-pointed concentration. There has to be hand-eye coordination which demands concentration on what you are doing. Thus it has improved my concentration power. Another thing I realized is that since the total concentration is on the game, the mind is not free to think or worry. Perhaps this is the reason that one feels relaxed after playing the game, as during the period one is engaged in the game, the mind is free of anxieties. Concentration on the game being played has another advantage. The mind has no time to think whether I will win or lose. One just plays. This means the work is done without thinking of the results. If the mind if diverted even for a second, we can make a mistake in striking, thereby spoiling the game. The game has also helped me gain confidence in talking and interacting with others. I used to be very shy but since I have started taking lessons, we have to mix with others and play together. This game promotes interpersonal relations and it has helped me develop confidence in my abilities. I did not know that I possess certain abilities such as the ability to get along with others. Now, I look forward to playing Table Tennis as it is a great leisure activity. However, it demands stamina, strength and one has to be agile. To undertake even the training lessons, one needs strength because the different strokes that one has to play is like a workout where all the limbs receive full exercise. Another major advantage with Table Tennis is that it is an indoor game and one can play whenever one wants. It is not dependent on the weather and all it requires is just another partner. In fact, to train and learn, one can even play alone. I have been so motivated by the numerous benefits of the game and fascinated by the game itself

Introduction of research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction of - Research Paper Example The paper is going to examine and discuss the function of aniline substituents by looking into the intensities of SERS of different anilines in gold and silver colloids by utilizing a Raman spectrometer which has a 785 nm excitation wavelength. The Chemical Enhancement factors of the Surface Enhanced Raman and detection limits for aniline and its mono- and di-substituted meta derivatives are established and comparisons made. The inductive impacts of withdrawal of electrons as a result of substituents and the steric needs of chemical adsorption influence the strength of signals of different vibrational modes of the aromatic ring and amino group. By utilizing the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the level of improvement is also linked to the ways of setting up the silver and gold colloids, which are characterized by exploring the structural morphology of the nanoparticle and its level of aggregation. Introduction: What is Raman Effect? Raman scattering or Raman Effect is the ine lastic scattering of photons from an atom or a molecule (Sur, 2010). It was discovered by a well known Indian physicist C V Raman in the year 1928. Generally, most photons are elastically scattered from an atom or a molecule, with the scattered photons having the same energy and wavelength as the incident photons (Sur, 2010). This phenomenon is known as ‘Rayleigh scattering’ and it accounts for the blue color of the sky (Sur, 2010). There is however a difference in frequency between the scattered photons and the incident photons. This physicist discovered the Raman Effect as he was working on the molecular diffraction of light and observed this effect in liquid. The Other Russian scientists Gregory Landsberg and Leonid Mandelstam first observed this effect in crystals (Sur, 2010). Raman won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his work on inelastic scattering of photons. The history of SERS SERS was discovered accidentally in 1974 as people attempted to perform Raman on the elec trode with an original idea of generating a high surface area on that extremely roughened metal. With time, people realized that the surface area was not the fundamental point on this arena. Periodical searches were made in the dark, which led to progress in 1977 when different groups found out that the rough silver electrode can produce a Raman spectrum that is a million fold more intense than what was expected (Ferraro, 1994). The huge signal confirmed surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). SERS have recently overcome the disadvantage of the small cross section of Raman spectroscopy completely, and therefore can be utilized to study the single molecule spectroscopy (Ferraro, 1994). Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has experienced renaissance recently in its development as a result of the remarkable discovery of single molecule SERS (SMSERS). This has also led to the explosion of interest in nanophotonics and plasmonics (Dieringer, 2005). Since excitation of the locali zed surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) of a nanostructured surface or nanoparticle Is centered at the heart of SERS, it is vital to have in control all of the factors influencing the LSPR with an aim to maximize signal strength and ensure reproducibility (Dieringer, 2005)

Promotion and Price Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Promotion and Price Paper - Essay Example This paper will look at the promotional and pricing strategies employed GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Plc in the marketing Advair. Focusing on the promotional efforts of the company, this report will identify the general strategy utilized by GSK. Next, the more specific efforts will be examined including the choice of media, content, and the message which is being conveyed. This paper will also look at the life cycle stage of Advair and how GSK prices according to this factor. Lastly, the appropriateness of the promotional and pricing strategies to the marketing mix will be examined. GlaxoSmithKline Plc is engaged in the "creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical and consumer health related products worldwide" (GlaxoSmithKline Plc Profile 2007). In furthering its quest in becoming an innovator and pioneer in the world's pharmaceutical industry, GSK launched Advair, a combination of Serevent and Flitoxide which offers a long acting bronchodilator and an anti-inflammatory in a single inhaler (GlaxoSmithKline Annual Report 2005) in 2001. With the company's aggressive and intensive promotion effort, Advair is currently recognized brand in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Among the products in the portfolio of GSK, Advair generates the highest revenue and total profit. During 2005, Advair is GSK's bestseller, posting annual double-digit growth. In order to support this growth, GSK also allocates chunk of its budget in Advair promotional strategy. Being a relatively new market product in the market, Advair is launched and introduced through the use of different media like print ads, televisions, direct mail, internet, telemarketing, radio, and point of purchase. During the first 11 months of 2006, AC-Nielsen reports that GSK spent $120.5 million for Advair. This represents 16% of GSK's total promotional expenditures (Lopatto 2006). Advair Promotion The promotional strategy of GSK has gone a long way in introducing and enhancing the position of Advair in the global pharmaceutical industry. In 2005, Advair is ranked 7th in terms of global turnover. There has also been an increased used of the product since it was launched in the COPD market in January 2004 (Timmons 2005). Both in Europe and United States, Advair is becoming a number one alternative for the treatment of COPD. Thus, GSK is intensifying its effort in marketing Advair as a treatment for this disease. During May 14, 2005 the product is also approved for the treatment of asthma in children ages 4-11 (GlaxoSmithKline 2006). Advair capitalizes on the strength of GSK in the treatment of asthma and COPD. The promotional strategies of Advair, thus, centers on this core competence. As mentioned above, GSK's effort in the promotion of Advair has been both extensive and intensive, making use of almost all available channels. Advair is generally promoted as an essential component of COPD treatment and the most effective and convenient choice in asthma treatment. In order to simplify the analysis of the message and content of the advertisemen

Douglas Coupland, Generation X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Douglas Coupland, Generation X - Essay Example It means that the American society is open for changes and innovations, unlike the Canadian society, which rejected the book at first. Generation X is positioned by Coupland as a distracted youth, free of moral stereotypes and prejudices. Moreover, Coupland claims that the Canadian dimension of literature does not present a blur of regional and national identity. This claim of the author plays an important role in the modern globalized, internationally blurred context. Moreover, it is argued that Generation X is a future prospect of the future social development of the contemporaries in technologically savvy world, freed from social bounds. Xers and their essence A tendency of escape from the strict bonds of the society is one of the most crucial issues of the novel. In other words, Coupland appeals for freedom and independence of the contemporaries. There is nothing, but individuals, who are technologically savvy and rigorous. A contemporary society is a society of consumers and cur rent communication implies nothing more than commentaries to the actions of other individuals. There is no need for the main characters of the novel to live in compliance with worn-out moral norms and ways of behavior. The contemporaries are ready to call for their earlier lives. There is a massive appeal of the author for the modern society to discard stereotypical behaviors and escape from monotonous lives. On the other hand, there is no evident possibility to escape from a socially stable reality: â€Å"...the realization that the smiles that they wear in their daily lives are the same as the smiles worn by people who have been good-naturedly fleeced, but fleeced nonetheless and who are unable because of social convention to show their anger† (Coupland 1991, p. 7).   It is essential and interesting to notice, that such kind of unusual arguments and a new air for the development of the Canadian minds was not readily accepted by the latter. The author appeals for the remov al of consumerist stereotypes or any other standardized types of behavior. It is not appropriate and even ill-mannered for the contemporaries to think and to act in accordance with irrelevant stereotypes. Coupland underlines a widening gap of generations’ split and there is a need to bridge the gap. The only way to do it is to become â€Å"naked† individuals with clear minds and create the modern reality, which is between reality and cyber space. Unlike earlier years, modern social templates of behavior are not linear. It is evident, that the modern society is being developed in different directions, blurring the borders and static limits of diversified development. Therefore, one of the greatest dilemmas, parent-children relationships is described by Coupland in an unusual manner. Modern youth is confident and they do not want their parents to be confident instead of them. Parental â€Å"crowbars† cannot be applied to reshape the lives of their children, as it used to be many centuries ago. Divided sections of text underlines dualistic development of the modern life: the modernity is being developed in accordance with the laws of computer technologies: a bipolar system of the modern society development reiterates binary system of computer technologies. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to have emotional features of human beings and the main characters Andy, Dag, and Claire have remained sensual humane characters and not computerized machines. There is enough courage among these characters and they are able to abandon a well-structured world, designed by the worn-out social system for them for life, which has no structure, templates and purpose. The modern culture is being develope

Western Civilization Essay Example for Free

Western Civilization Essay The themes dominating Netos poetry are quite indicative of the fact that the veracity and practice of luso-tropicalism, the idea that the Portuguese went to Africa to civilize and christianize Africans, and the notion that the assimilation project was a widespread one, were more myth than reality. The poems included in Sacred Hope illustrate well the oppression, apartheid, (un)civilization, and (un)Christianity brought to Africa by the Portuguese. The poem which in its English translation is called Western civilization (Civilizacao ocidental), constitutes a good example of that so-called civilization and Christianity brought to Angola (and other parts of Africa) by the Portuguese colonizers. The title of the poem might lead some readers to believe that what is to come is an apology for Western civilization and culture and for its good deeds in Africa. It could be suggested that such readers have fallen into what can be described as the Eurocentric trap that is, they went into the reading of the poem with the preconceived idea that Western colonizers did indeed go to Africa to civilize Africans. These readers will only be disappointed and even confused for what is to be painted in the poem is not civilization but rather (un)civilization. The poems title is in fact highly ironic: it is used by the poet to make the reader reflect about the true nature of Western civilization, see its many (un)civilized sites and make him/her question the motives behind the colonial enterprise. For example, in this poem, the houses of Angolans are described as Tins fixed to stakes / driven in the earth whose intimate landscape is complet[ed] by rugs (18). And these houses are full of cracks through which the sun enters just to awake its inhabitant, who is tired from twelve hours of slave / labour (18). The poet then proceeds to describe the endless hard work performed by the Angolan: Breaking stones / carrying stones / breaking stones / carrying stones (19). The repetition carrying stones / breaking stones, used three times in this stanza, is very successful in transmitting the intensity and never-ending hard work performed by the worker. The worker becomes a slave precisely because he never stops working; he works continuously without even being interrupted by harsh weather conditions; he works in the sun and in the rain (19). The poem ends by explaining and illustrating when, how and under what circumstances this slave worker dies: Old age comes early / A reed mat on dark nights / enough for him to die / thankfully / and of hunger (19). For even though the worker works very hard all his life, he ends up without the most basic necessities: no proper bed, no food and no light, and thus is grateful to die. Death represents freedom from a life of slave work; it represents the end of his physical and psychological oppression and immeasurable pain. This poem is indeed a good illustration of the (un)civilization, the (un)Christianity brought to Africans by the Portuguese: hunger, cold, physical and mental exhaustion, and alienation. To put it metaphorically, if the lights of the civilized did not reach the Angolans (as colonialists have claimed to be the case) before the arrival of the colonialist, they surely were not bright enough to illuminate the life of most Angolans after. The questions I would like to ask in relation to this poem are: will the reader feel enough revolt and disgust against Western civilization that he/she will want to work towards the independence of Angola? Will the sites of Western (un)civilization displayed in this poem be sufficient for the oppressor to see the true nature of the colonial enterprise and convince him/her to refuse to be part of such sordid business? Or will this poem just sound like the unfounded lament of an Angolan who is jealous of the so-called higher successes and intelligences of his colonial master?

The Creation Of The Oyster E System Information Technology Essay

The Creation Of The Oyster E System Information Technology Essay Introduction TfL is the body responsible for the majority of Londons transport systems. It manages London Buses, the Underground, the Docklands Light Rail (DLR) and Croydon Tramlink, Londons road network and traffic lights, traffic management and the congestion charging scheme. It runs London River Services and regulates taxis and the private hire trade. However, National rail services are not TfLs direct responsibility except some services in London (Mezghani, 2008). This paper aims to analyse TfLs Oyster ticketing system and provide a balanced assessment of its deployment, functionality and efficiency. Further, it would aim to propose recommendations pertaining to improving operability or scalability as the case may be. Oyster e-Ticketing System TfL was created in 2000 and is the integrated body responsible Londons transport system (TfL, 2010). Oyster was launched in 2003 with more than seven million Oyster cards operating in London since. Each week, fifty-seven million journeys are made using Oyster and more than 80 per cent of all bus and tube payments are now by Oyster card. TfL processes 10 million Oyster transactions a day whilst Barclaycard MasterCard processes 40 million transactions a day- half of the worlds credit card transactions (oyster-factsheet, 2010). This further elucidates the volume and importance of the Oysters operations. The Oyster card is a contactless transport smartcard which can store period tickets as well as Pre-Pay value which can be used to pay for individual fares. It encourages public transport use by reducing barriers to access, improving bus journey times and free staff from the ticket office as well as providing an integrated ticketing platform (Inglesant and Sasse, 2005). The aim of the Oyster (as of any other e-Ticketing system) is to have an open payment scheme which promotes inter-modality, inter-operability, inter-services (e-purse), parking and road pricing, customer relationship management (CRM), network monitoring and planning, secured access and individual safety (Mezghani, 2008). TfL Fare system There are a variety of tickets for both single rides and for periods of time over various modes of transportation. A capping system guarantees that an Oyster card user will be charged no more than the cheapest combinations of single tickets, travelcards and/or bus pass that cover all journeys made that day. The cap is based on modal choice, maximum zonal journey made on the Tube and time of day. A 50p discount is given where the price is capped at the travelcard or bus pass rate. Unlike paper daily travelcards, Oyster cards capped at travelcard rates are not valid on National Rail services other than those routes which accept Oyster Pay as you go. Concessionary fares exist for children, students, elderly and physically impaired people, as well as adults on some types of benefits (Mezghani, 2008). E-ticketing When discussing e-Ticketing systems, there are a few things which should be considered mandatory. These are: The fare levels and structure The ticketing spectrum The possibilities for integration The smartcard technology The interoperability issue The business case The business model The clearing mechanisms The exploitation of data However, due to the limitations of the scope of this paper only some factors will be discussed with relevance to the oyster ticketing system. Technology The Oyster card is a contactless smartcard, with a claimed proximity range of about 8  cm (3  inches). The card operates as a RFID  system and is compatible with ISO 14443A standards; although the Oyster readers can also read other types of cards including ISO14443B and Cubic Go-Cards. From its inception until January 2010, Oyster cards were based on NXP/Philips PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , most commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics corporation. MiFare MIFAREMIFARE is the NXP Semiconductors -owned trademark of the reputedly most widely installed contactless smart card, or proximity card, technology in the world with over 1 billion smart card chips and 10 million reader modules sold standard 1k chips provided by Giesecke Devrient Giesecke DevrientGiesecke Devrient is a German company headquartered in Munich that provides banknote and securities printing, smart cards, and cash handling systems. , Gemalto and SchlumbergerSema. Since December 2009 all new Oyster cards were produced using the MiFare DESFire  chips. From February 2010 MiFare based Oyster cards were no longer issued to the public. DESFire cards are now widely used in transport smartcard systems (Absolute Astronomy, 2010). MiFare and DESFire chips, on which the Oyster card is based, are memory smartcards, meaning that they do not have any computing power of their own. They are activated only when they are in an electromagnetic field compatible with ISO14443A. The Oyster readers provide this electromagnetic field. The readers read information from the cards, carry out computation to check whether to allow travel and to assess the payable fare and write back information to the card. Some basic information about the MiFare or DESFire chip can be read by any ISO14443A compatible reader but further, Oyster specific information cannot be read without access to the encryption used for the Oyster system. While it has been suggested that a good reader could read personal details from quite a distance there has been no evidence of anyone being able to decrypt Oyster information. By design the cards do not carry any personal information, such as names, addresses, etc. (Mezghani, 2008). As a smartcard system, the Oyster card uses a distributed settlement framework. All transactions are settled between the card and reader alone. Readers transmit the transactions to the back office in batches but there is no need for this to be done in real time. The Oyster back office system acts mainly as a record of transactions that have been completed between cards and readers. This provides a high degree of resilience in the system (Absolute Astronomy, 2010). Memory The size of the dynamic memory on a smart card into which data can be written or changed is limited, at present, both by the cost of this kind of memory (EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and by the physical size of the memory chip within the cards processor. Many of the first generation read-write cards offer only a few hundred bytes of EEPROM. However, commercial cards with 4, 8 and reliably up to 64K bytes are now available- albeit at a cost. Cards with 100K bytes are also emerging. 2-4K bytes of memory is sufficient to store the financial balance and contract information, plus an auditable register of around 100 of the most recent transactions (containing information such as time, location, service, charge and final balance). However, the memory is really a function of what and how many applications the card is expected to support and this largely determines the unit cost of the card (Mezghani, 2008). Security The security of public transport systems against fraud relies on many components- which the smartcard is just one. Typically, to minimize costs, system integrators will chose a relatively cheap card and concentrate the security efforts in the back office (which also is the case with Oyster). Additional encryption on the card, transaction counters, and other methods recognized in cryptography are then required to make cloned cards useless, or at least to enable the back office detect fraud in case a card is compromised, and put it on a blacklist. Systems that work with online readers only (i.e., readers with a permanent link to the back office) are easier to protect than systems that have offline readers as well, for which real-time checks are not possible and blacklists cannot be updated as frequently (Mezghani, 2008). Mezghani (2008) recalls a presentation by Henryk Plà ¶tz and Karsten Nohl at the 24th Chaos Communication Congress in December 2007 which described a partial reverse-engineering of the algorithm used in the MiFare Classic chip, and potentially revealed some insecurities in the MiFare Classic security model, which resulted in people gaining access to transport facilities without charge. Integration In the context of fare collection, it is important to distinguish between tariff integration and ticket integration. It is important to note that integrated (multi-mode, multi-operator) fare schemes are initiatives taken or at least endorsed by transport authorities to make travel by public transport easy. Fare integration is treated differently on single tickets compared to season tickets. Single tickets tend to be mode-exclusive (e.g. surface transport vs. heavy rail) while season tickets are in most cases multi-modal. Besides, the more fare-setting is controlled by the authority, the higher fare integration becomes. E-ticketing makes ticketing integration easier to implement because it can manage a more complex fare system without necessarily harmonising amongst fares of different operators or modes. Each operator or mode keeps its own single fares and the smartcard acts as a unique means of payment. In addition, the system can include rules for transfer rights in order to be more attractive. Fares integration is no longer a pre-requisite to achieving seamless travel- this is the case with TfLs Oyster, Hong Kongs Octopus and Seouls T-Money (Mezghani, 2008). Mari (2008) in an article for computing.co.uk posed the question: Will poor integration derail smart tickets? With London 2012 in sight, its quite clear it would be very difficult for visitors to move about the country without a properly integrated ticketing system. Yes, the Oyster is focused on London and transportation for London. However, it is an opportunity to generate extra income via commissions and TfLs position is important as it is a leader in the smart e-Ticketing field. Interoperability The term interoperability can create confusion, since it can be defined in more than one way. Standardisation is an important concern in particular when it deals with interoperability. In this respect, several initiatives have been developed at national level in order to define interoperable standard specifications, e.g. ITSO standard in the UK and VDV Kernapplikations in Germany. They have jointly developed some basic concepts for European e-ticketing. A suite of three standards which serve as a generic framework has been published: a standard for data elements (EN 1545), a standard for a framework for interoperable ticketing (EN 15320, also known as IOPTA Interoperable Public Transport Application), and a basic standard for the functional interoperable fare management system architecture (ISO 24014-1, also known as IFM SA) which was additionally jointly developed with US and Japanese experts. According to IFM system architecture, there are four different levels of the interoperabil ity concept (Mezghani, 2008). This is believed to be a new gestalt in the field of smartcard e-Ticketing and will eventually become the modus operandi for all e-Ticketing technologies. Below is an illustration of the interoperable architecture applied to the Helsinki e-Ticketing system. Source: www.emta.com/IMG/pdf/EMTA-Ticketing.pdf Standardization ITSO started in 1998 and was incorporated in 2001. Its a company whose membership covers the width of the Transport arena; including transport operators (both bus and train operating companies), suppliers to the industry, local authorities and public transport executives. Supported by the Department for Transport, ITSO links with major transport industry organizations and established smartcard schemes in the UK and overseas. Having evolved from the initiative of various UK Passenger Transport Authorities who were concerned with  the lack of standards for interoperable smartcard ticketing,  ITSOs objective is to maintain and develop the ITSO Specification; to  operate and manage an interoperable smart media environment and  to facilitate and support development of interoperable smart ticketing schemes that comply with the ITSO Specification (ITSO, 2010). TfL has been working with the ITSO since 2006 and is currently expanding its interoperability through various products provided by the organization. ITSO supports the following Product Types: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP0: Private Application à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP2: Stored Value à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP3, 17: Loyalty à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP4, 5: Charge to Account à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP14, 16: Entitlement and ID à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP22, 23, 24: Pre-defined Tickets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP25: Voucher à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP26: Tolling à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP27, 28, 29: Space-saving Tickets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢TYP34: Transient Ticket The diagrams below illustrate the structure of the ITSO system and its benefits. ITSO System Overview. Source:www.ctst.com/CTST08/pdf/Hochfield.pdf ITSO stored value proposition Source: http://www.itso.org.uk/page45/About%20ITSO/ Weinstein (2009) elucidates the options Oyster has in expanding its scope and maintaining efficiency by stating the need to look outward; especially at other e-Ticketing systems around the world and learn from advancement in these systems or the transport schemes put in place. The EMV standard could be a path to inter-operability as it uses global networks that already exist and that work effectively every day for millions of purchases (Weinstein, 2009). Conclusion There are several reasons transport authorities introduce or re-model e-Ticketing systems. However, they do not have the same priorities. With EMV gradually gaining ground, Oyster is constantly striving to ease customer experience as well as strengthen its competitive advantage. However, the main focal point for the Oyster should be scalability. This ensures seamless integration when new technology is introduced and platform independence as a result of interoperability. It also aids data mining which serves as input for future modelling and design. Scalability should, above anything, be the primary focus of Oyster as it forecasts.

Casino And Gaming Management Tourism Essay

Casino And Gaming Management Tourism Essay In the report, we will introduce a brief history casinos in Victoria Australia, and then, the current state of casino gaming and internal description of casinos will be shown. The advantage and disadvantage of casinos will be discussed in the surrounding community. There is no double that gambling is one of the most popular games in the world. Generally speaking, casino can be found in anywhere in the world. Therefore casino is not only an entertainment place for people but also relevant to the hospitality industry and it is as well as a significant aspect contained by the national finance and economics. Consequently this article will be focus on a casino which is it is in Melbourne and introduce their history, the impacts on casino, the internal description of casino and the advantages and disadvantages of the casino. After that, people will know more about the casino (Crown) in Melbourne. The first legal casino which is wrest point hotel casino locates in Tasmania Australia in 1973, and then government allowed to set up Darwin casino in northern territory in 1979. Focus on 1980s, gold coast, Queensland and Adelaide also opened their first casino at that time. In addition, in 1990s, there are much more casinos opened than before such as Casino in Canberra; star city casino in Sydney and reef hotel casino in cairns Queensland. From 1994 to 1997, Melbourne also was running the first casino Crown casino. In these years, there are 13 casinos in each state and territory of Australia which are running their business, maintain their legislation and policy. These casinos are not only operating in gambling places, but also in hotels, accommodations and entertainment place. Therefore Australia has great economic benefit and employment by these casinos. Current state of casino gaming: Crown casino and entertainment complex is located in Melbourne of the Yarra River, and attracting on average 16 million tourists every year, so it is absolutely one of the largest casinos in Australia. Thus Crown casino is a paradise for gambling, because they are only provide kinds of table gaming such as blackjack, Texas Holdem, craps, baccarat, roulette, Caribbean Stud poker and so on, but also has more than 2,500 slot machines and 350 gaming tables alarming. According to Herald Sun reports, gamblers would lose 100.002 Australian dollars in table game and slot machine each hour. Meanwhile Crown hotel provide many non-gaming services, such as hotel, restaurant, cinema, theatre shows and shopping. Consequently this hotel becomes a centre of entertainment of Melbourne. Casino managers have estimated that one-third of the money from overseas visitors and they have lost 60 million. Consequently the Victoria government as much as 3.13 billion tax from casino and help the government budg et has a surplus. The pokie tax increases 1.7 percent each year for six years beginning this year, resulting in a total tax increase of 10.3 percent by 2015. The full tax will be 32.57 percent at that time. The change will bring more than a$60 million to the government over the next four years and add more than 300 jobs at Crown. (Global Gaming Business, 2009) However, Crown casino like any other casinos, they dont allow people go into the casino if they under 18 and office signs this note in every entrance. Customers should be identified by entry point staff at all entrance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, Crown casino set up a Responsible Gaming Support Centre (RGSC), which is responsible to be tasked with implementing Crowns responsible service of gambling initiatives and providing a focal point for interacting with customers who may need support. Future capital works projects: Crown Melbourne spends $300 million to build a new hotel on the casino site in 2010. The new hotel will provide 658 rooms and accommodate 340 000 guests every year; 50 exhibition booths, 7 state of the art conference-meeting rooms and an 800-seat Plenary Hall. Crown casino will also upgrade the facilities including live entertainment, restaurants, lighting and color schemes. Therefore the new project will create significant economic benefit for Crown and Melbourne. Casino industry description of Australia: Since 1973, casino has become an important part in Australians life. Therefore in order to attract the visitors to game in their place, besides the existing 13 casinos, the expenditure of casinos grew rapidly from $78.5 million to $2.8 billion which has increase 34.9 percent. So casino industry activates the economic and the travel image of the country. Since 1998-2006, casinos gaming expenditure has stabilized at around $3 billion. They offer more and more thrilling game in the entertainment. In addition, they offer provide many non-gaming activities and facilities such as hotel rooms, restaurant, bars, banquet facilities and theatres. Therefore there are 7.8 billion customers who come from all over the world visited casino in Australia. Consequently this brings a perfect profit for casinos and government. In 2002 to 2008, the revenues increased $3.1 billion to 4.0 billion and the average revenues growth rate of 5.2 percent every year. In a research, there are about $1271 million dollar which has 40 per cent revenue come from table gaming and about $572 million dollar which has 18 per cent come from international VIP customers. Moreover, casinos also create about 19,737 jobs in Australia, and Crown casino is the largest single site employers in Victoria The Commonwealth and local governments won $1.2 billion total taxes from casinos in 2007 to 2008. Particularly, casinos not only need to pay general taxes collected by the different levels of local government on all businesses, casinos usually pay amount of special gambling taxes as well. There are different types of general taxes, which including Goods and Services Tax (GST), firm tax and payroll tax paid by casinos for usual operations. In current situation, Casinos leading the most highly taxed compare with other gaming providers in Australia. Casino paid thirty percent of all income for their taxes to the government in a single year of 2007 to 2008. Few industries can afford to pay so much tax as casino except the industries of tobacco, alcohol and luxury cars. Leading to the casino to pay such high taxes is because the casinos are required to pay a lot of taxation (gambling taxes, license fees and community levies) besides the general taxes by all other industries. Casino Contribution There are plenty of international evidence indicate that casinos contribution to national economic activity is mainly dependent on the casino led to the development of tourism. However, effective research shows that tourism and hotel sector has not been much affected by non-casino facets. The following research report is about the details found in Australian. 1. More than one million overseas tourists visits to Australian casinos and bring a number of 2.4 million consumptions in 2007 to 2008. 2. Overseas tourists who visited Australian casinos bring $4.9 billion total spent with an average of $4940 per tourist, during visits to Australia. This average consume value is in the extreme higher than overseas tourists who did not visited casino during the visit with the average consume value of $2630 per tourist. The total number of gambling consumption by overseas VIP program players is $553 million in the year of 2007 to 2008. It is estimated that casinos has spent a further $65 million to attract VIP program players, these players who are estimated to cost $121 million in Australia on non-casino consumption. 1. It is estimated that export to overseas VIP program players improved gross domestic product (GDP) by $84 million and private consumption by $225 million in year of 2007 to 2008. 2. To keep export of overseas VIP program players at the year of 2007 to 2008 level is prospective to improve Australias private expenditure by $1.8 billion over a decade. Casino employment There are 19 939 people working in Casinos in year of 2007 to 2008. It is making a significant contribution to employment in Australia. Two leading employment casinos are located in Victoria (Crown Melbourne) and WA (Burswood Entertainment Complex) respectively, which employ the largest proportion of employees. Licensed gaming staff is one of most important category in casino operation. There are closely 60 percentage of staff are employed in casino on a full time basis, about 15 percentage employed on a part time basis, and 25 percentage on a casual basis. Disadvantage of Casino industry: Problem Gambling From the Australia Productivity Commissions Inquiry into Australias Gambling Industries in 1999, it is indicating that the following points: 1. About 2.1 percentages of the Australian adults or among 293,000 people have a significant gambling problem. 2. On average around seven other people are affected by a serious problem gamblers behavior. It is around two million Australians. Problem Gambling is clearly a major public health issue in Australia. It is become a problem if someone spends more time or money than they can afford to, or if it is have a negative impact on their relationship. That is why just the minority country legislate the gambling is legal. Crime Rate With the growing of the casino industry, crime becomes another major negative impact. Casino is a place which can make a person bankruptcy in a short time; it may change a person in one night. So, the rate of crime may increase because of these factors. Also, the government adopt a lot, such as increase the number of police on duty at night, but the crime problem still have not work out in a perfect way. Conclusion: In conclusion, this report generally description the casino in Australia with several parts which includes the history of casino gambling, current state of casino, Impact on casino, industry of casino, and the advantages and disadvantages of casino as well. In order to more powerful support of our arguments, this article adopts the resources from Internet, chart and database. Moreover, with the development science and technology, improve the management has become more important to casino to create more entertainment facilities to meet the needs of the people, to stimulate the economy development. However, the industry is also a potential risks (social problems, crime). In order to prevent negative, the government should pay more attention on casino management and restrictions to seek better ways to adjust entertainment and gain enormous profit.

the origin of electoral college Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the United States of America, the presidential election takes place every four years, on the first Tuesday of November [1]. Most people believe they are directly voting for the presidential candidate, and the person with the most popular votes will win the election. However, instead of voting for the presidential candidate, people are voting for the electors, individuals who vote in the Electoral College. Moreover, the total electoral vote, not the popular vote, actually determines the winner of the United States presidential election. The election of the year 2000 is a perfect example of the Electoral College. President George W. Bush won the presidential election of the year 2000 with more electoral votes, not popular votes. Before the presidential election of year 2000, most people pay no or little attention to the electoral votes, because most people do not understand the concept of the Electoral College, or even did not know there the different between po pular votes and Electoral College.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before continue to discuss about the Electoral College, we must first understand the history of Electoral College and the concept of how does it work. The Electoral College system was established in Article II, section I, of the U.S. Constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular v... the origin of electoral college Essay -- essays research papers fc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the United States of America, the presidential election takes place every four years, on the first Tuesday of November [1]. Most people believe they are directly voting for the presidential candidate, and the person with the most popular votes will win the election. However, instead of voting for the presidential candidate, people are voting for the electors, individuals who vote in the Electoral College. Moreover, the total electoral vote, not the popular vote, actually determines the winner of the United States presidential election. The election of the year 2000 is a perfect example of the Electoral College. President George W. Bush won the presidential election of the year 2000 with more electoral votes, not popular votes. Before the presidential election of year 2000, most people pay no or little attention to the electoral votes, because most people do not understand the concept of the Electoral College, or even did not know there the different between po pular votes and Electoral College.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before continue to discuss about the Electoral College, we must first understand the history of Electoral College and the concept of how does it work. The Electoral College system was established in Article II, section I, of the U.S. Constitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular v...

Developing Communication Essay -- Interpersonal Communication

Communication skills are vital to the manager’s success. A manager must be an effective communicator to lead people. Assessing your communication skills is the key to your success; nevertheless, most people fail to recognize the role communication plays. When assessing your communication abilities, it is essential to review your interpersonal communication skills. Interpersonal skills are the most crucial skill that is needed to be an effective manager. Interpersonal communication skills are a ‘type of supportive communication that is the key to empowering people and motivating others to become more effective and efficient employees† (South University Online, 2011, p. 1). Supportive communication is beneficial in communicating both â€Å"honestly and accurately, it can preserve or enhance your personal, and professional relationships while providing information and resolving issues with your counterparts† (South University Online, p.1). In this essay, I will us the eight principles of supportive communication (problem oriented, congruence, descriptive, validates, specific, conjunctive, owned, and supportive listening) to reflect how a conversation with my daughter was impacted by my communication style. Synopsis of the Conversation My 13-year-old daughter was attending a friend birthday party. When she came into the den to let me know that she was leaving with her friend and parent, I must have given a strange look or appeared to look angry. She wanted to know why I was looking at her like that. I responded by pointing out that I felt her outfit was inappropriate to wear because it was too short and revealing for her age. She should choose another outfit to wear. My daughter pointed out that she had borrowed from one of her frie... ...(2005) states that good listeners are more likely perceived to be skillful communicator. Conclusion I choose the conversation with my daughter to explore the eight principles of supportive communication. Some may fell that with children that communication must be handled differently. On my job I supervise, college students. I often view other supervisors communicating different with students than adult. I have taken management classes over the year and I feel that the most effective manager will make self-analysis and seek ways to over come defensiveness and disconfirmation. The eight principle of supportive communication are an excellent place to start and beneficial to you whereas you can communicate effectively with anyone. My conversation with my daughter would not have not been as positive as it where if I was not already knowledge and seeking improvement.

Themes Of Frankenstein Essay -- essays research papers fc

Themes of Frankenstein   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many different themes expressed in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. They vary with each reader but basically never change. These themes deal with the education that each character posses, the relationships formed or not formed in the novel, and the responsibility for ones own actions. This novel even with the age still has ideas that can be reasoned with even today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each character has their own educational background, which in turn has a large effect to the way they react and deal with the issues that face them. One example of this is Victor Frankenstein; he took his education into his own hands. When he went to the University of Inglostaldt he intoxicated himself with the sciences so deeply that he never imagined the morality of what he was doing. He stayed so involved and focused on his experiments that he did not take into mind what could happen because of the size of the creature. Victor said: Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty… As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature; that is to say about eight feet in height, and proportionately large. (52) But when he finished the science that brought him there has also scared him away. On page 56 Victor tells about the creation and what it meant to him and what happened when life filled the body: I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. (56) Victor's education has leaded him to be able to create a monster but not let him fully think out the havoc that might be unleashed. His education only let him create a monster but never taught him how to care for it; this ends up resulting in the loss of innocent lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This theme is also present when looking at the creation's education. He received most of his education hands on, by hi... ...inking how his discoveries can help mankind but not how the monster could be a burden to society. When the creature talks to Victor, he starts to see the responsibility that he owes the creature. Victor agrees to start a companion for the creature but finally thinks about what could happen with the two creations together. He tears up the second creation. This shows that he is taking some of the responsibility to the society: …For the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that the future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to bury its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race. (159) Victor realizes he is truly responsible towards society and by tearing up the second creation upholds that responsibility.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The novel points out to the reader that education, relationships, and responsibility are important traits to posses, even to the people in the 1800's to present day. Frankenstein is a classic novel that will live on for centuries to come as well as the message deep inside. Bibliography Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Penguin, 1983.

Individual research task Essay

This episode of ‘The Simpsons’, ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ was about Homer and a giant Grizzly bear. When Homer is caught on tape running away from a large bear at the town dump, he becomes the laughingstock of Springfield. Determined to win his dignity back, Homer devises a bear-proof suit that will protect him once he returns to the wild to hunt down the bear. When he confronts the beast, he realizes the bear is only upset because he’s been tagged with a painful tracking device. Homer reverses course and helps bring the bear to safety. ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ satirises many different issues about social, political and cultural things. In the beginning after the theme song they show the family getting onto and sitting on the couch. There are hundreds of different ways that the characters manage to do this. In this particular episode, they show Homer walking down a hallway by himself, through many, high security metal doors with a telephone booth at the end, which then drops him onto the couch with the rest of the family. This is the same beginning (with theme song) that is featured in every ‘Get Smart’ episode (a comedy TV show from the 80’s). Another thing that they satirise is the stupidity of men, through the stupidity of Homer and Bart. On Mother’s Day morning, the kids and Homer discuss what they got Marge for Mother’s Day and this is what happens: Homer: Well†¦ what did you get her? Lisa: I picked mum a bouquet of erigeron elodeas†¦ (Homer & Bart stare with lost expression)†¦ daisies†¦ (Homer & Bart still staring)†¦ flowers†¦ (Homer & Bart still staring)†¦ mmmm†¦ (Lisa gestures flowers towards them) Homer & Bart: Oh†¦! Even in the simplest terms (i. e. â€Å"flowers†), Homer and Bart had no idea about what Lisa was talking about. This shows that they are really stupid and could reflect the stupidity of men in society, especially those who don’t think before they say or do things. They also satirise the stupidity of cops, as seen in the seen with a police officer and the chief: Police Officer: Chief, that guy shouldn’t be in the car pool lane. His passenger is just a†¦ big piece of candy Chief: I wish mine was! (looks at officer angrily) Police Officer: What?! Chief: Nothing†¦ Like most episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ with Chief Wiggum in it, shows him caring more for food than for than for his job as a cop. This could be satirising cops and suggesting that they are lazy and don’t do their job properly. They also satirise society and how it takes things for granted, throwing away the old things when new versions come along. This is shown is the city dump seen before Homer gets attacked by a bear for the first time. As Homer walks through the dump, there are 3 signs behind him. The first sign says ‘Betamax Tapes’ and shows a pile of tapes, the second pile says ‘Laser Discs’ and has a pile of discs below it, and the third sign says ‘Reserved for DVDs. This is just saying that once we create something that is even better and more compact than DVDs, everyone will get rid of the DVDs. No one wants to look like they aren’t ‘in with the times’, they care a lot about their image and how society sees them. There are many satirical techniques that are used to make fun of these issues and satirise them. One of the most frequent satirical techniques used throughout this episode and most Simpsons episodes is Irony. An example of this is when Homer is trying to get the hunter off their track by chucking away the tracking device that he is following:Homer: The hunter has become the hunter. He must be following this thing (tracking device). Well I’m gonna make sure it never harms another living creature! (throws tracking device is pond, fish and diver surface after dying from electrical charges put out by tracking device) This is a form of irony because Homer throws the tracking device into the pond because he didn’t want it to hurt another living thing anymore. But instead he killed every fish in that pond as well as a diver who was exploring the pond. Another satirical technique used in this episode is a parody. This was when Homer had created a huge 85 pound ball of deep fried fairy floss and caramel. While making this weird creation, Homer was whimpering as if he was afraid of what could happen, but this whimpering turned into a maniacal evil laugh. This parody is imitating movies and shows where there is an evil person who laughs maniacally when they create something, such as in the movie ‘Spiderman’. The green goblin laughs evilly when he schemes up a plan to destroy and kill Spiderman. There are many movies which use this clichi and this particular Simpsons scene is satirising that clichi. The hyperbole is also another technique used in this episode of ‘The Simpsons’. For example, when the local hunter, Grant Connor, is telling Homer about Grizzly bears before he goes off to face one, he says: Grant Connor: The grizzly is over eight foot tall and can cut through a tree like a Jewish mother through self-esteem. This is an exaggeration of what he is trying to say, which is that grizzly bears are very strong and their claws are very sharp, so be careful. The last, but not least technique used in this episode of ‘The Simpsons’ is humour. This technique is used in the beginning of the show before Homer, Lisa and Bart are going to go shopping for a Mother’s day gift for Marge. Homer: Kids, we’re going mother’s day shopping. I’m glad this holiday only comes every 4 years. This statement is full of humour and makes us laugh because of the stupidity of Homer and how he is so lost in life. He doesn’t even know what he is saying is wrong and he believes that he is not doing anything wrong. There are also many other examples of humour used throughout the whole episode and all the seasons. All these issues that are being satirised and the techniques used to satirise them, all play an important part in the shows ability to satirise social, political and/or cultural context. This particular episode mainly satirises social context. This is evident in the way they portray men, women, children and old people. But in other episodes of the show, political and cultural contexts are both satirised. For example, when President George Bush moves in next door to the Simpsons, or the many times where Mayor Quimby does things wrong. Examples of cultural context is the episode where Apu talks about how he came to America and the episode where Springfield has a referendum, ‘Preposition 24’ about whether refugees should be allowed to stay in Springfield. There are many other episodes and scenes where the show satirises social, political or cultural context. The effectiveness of all this satirising must be great because ‘The Simpsons’ is aired in many countries and languages throughout the world. It has being running on TV for around 15 years and has created 15 seasons and there are still many more episodes still to come in the future. I think that ‘The Simpsons’ is a great TV show that satirises many things to do with social, political and cultural contexts. The many techniques and characters used to make fun of this issue make the show a great laugh and very fun to watch. This very episode, ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ was one of the funniest yet, and featured some very good laughs o get your attention. I’m sure that for years to come, ‘The Simpsons’ will continue to amaze us and make us all laugh.

Commercials and Their Effect on Children’s Language

Language socialization is the process whereby children are socialized, or taught the norms and expectations of their culture, through the use of language. Language socialization includes both the use of language for socialization and the socialization to use language. Language socialization takes effect through exposure to language use, first from family members and other caretakers and then through further society, such as other children, childcare and media exposure. What effect does media exposure, particularly exposure to television commercials, have on language socialization in children? An investigation of literature suggests that television and commercials are likely to have a poor effect on language socialization, leading to inaccurate ideas of the importance of language and the culturally correct use of language.The general effects of television viewing on socialization are well known. According to Coats & Feldman (1995) American children spend significant amounts of time wa tching television – more time, they noted, than talking to adults, playing with siblings or attending school. They examined the effect of television on nonverbal socialization, and found that nonverbal displays of emotion are found at an unnaturally high rate as opposed to the natural environment. This can lead to frequent television viewers expressing a more expressive nonverbal emotional display style, due to incorrect socialization about the appropriateness of nonverbal display.Their study found that elementary school children who frequently watched television had more success at encoding emotions (particularly those frequently displayed on television such as happiness and sadness) than did children who infrequently watched television. They also found that these children used more emotive facial expressions. This is in opposition to cultural norms that require active regulation of facial expression, and may constitute a social disadvantage. DeLoache and Korac (2003) noted that there has been a substantial amount of research indicating that there is a correlation between violent programs and violent behavior.Neuman (1980) performed one of the first studies on the effect of television and listening behavior in children. She noted that the rapid pace of children’s television programming meant that children never had time to integrate the information transmitted by the programs. The changes were so frequent that children did not have the ability to learn to recognize the words presented in other contexts, meaning that language socialization through these television shows and commercials was ineffective and incomplete. Her study focused specifically on the correlation between listening skills and television viewing.She found that children did not routinely suffer a degradation of listening skills at increased levels of television viewing; listening skills, she determined, tend to be linked more to intelligence than to television viewing or artifici ally shortened attention spans. However, she did note that children who watched a lot of commercials, documentaries and news shows did have a decreased level of listening skills. She posited that this was due to the explicit lack of socialization cues aimed at children within these programs leading to decreased listening skills and attention spans. In short, these programs did not provide enough simulated human interaction to allow for language or cultural socialization, even as a substitute for human interaction.Durkin and Judge (2001) examined the effect of television language socialization on children in the specific context of foreign language speakers. The authors noted that language is a marker of ethnic identity and enculturation; reactions to language could also be a sign of ethnic prejudice. Ethnic minorities are often underrepresented in the media as well as portrayed in an inaccurate manner, perpetuating stereotypes and negative images of the ethnic minority. The authors wanted to investigate this portrayal on the socialization of young children around foreign languages at various ages.They found that three to five year olds routinely learned words from television programs, and that younger children used foreign language as a cue that a program’s content is not aimed at them. The authors performed a study that used videos of a family, speaking both English and an artificial foreign language, in prosocial and antisocial situations in order to gauge the effect of the foreign language on the children’s perception of the situation. The authors did not find that the foreign language routinely affected the children’s perception, although younger viewers did tend to view the foreign language speaking portrayals more negatively (in line with cognitive development theories which indicate that younger children see those who are different from them as a threat).The authors noted that the eight year old group showed a marked bias against th e foreign language groups in both the prosocial and antisocial situations; this, too, is accounted for by cognitive development theories, which indicate that a metalinguistic shift occurs around the age of seven or eight. This effect has apparently dissipated by the age of ten. Children of all age groups responded positively to the prosocial groups, and negatively to the antisocial groups, in line with expected socialization. The authors concluded that although foreign language could elicit prejudicial reactions in children, it is not clear that it is the foreign language that causes these reactions. However, this study clearly indicates that television’s negative portrayal of ethnic minorities could impact children’s later attitudes and socialization.Barling and Fullagar (1983) performed a factorial study examining children’s attitudes to commercials, including statements such as â€Å"I learned something new† and â€Å"The advertisement was entertainin g.† This study did not show any explicit awareness on the part of the children surveyed of learning or socialization through commercials. Bradbury (2004) stated,â€Å"A great deal of research has been done on this subject and, though varying greatly in its methodology and conclusion, would appear to suggest that it is not until the age of 12 that all children have developed a full understanding of the intention of advertising. In particular it is not until this age that all children fully understand the ‘advocatory’ nature of advertising, that is the way in which advertising communicates only positive messages about a product in order to encourage sales.†This inability to distinguish reality from commercial advertising may further increase the risk of inappropriate socialization through television commercials. Bradbury noted that exposure to commercials at an early age may increase the risk of developing a consumerist mentality that children do not have the capacity to recognize as inappropriate.Are there any potential benefits to children from television viewing? DeLoache and Korac (2003) examined the effectiveness of video learning in very young children.   The design of television programs for children, beginning with programs such as Sesame Street, aimed at preschool aged children, and progressing to programs designed for twelve to twenty four month old or younger children, are predicated on the idea that children can and do learn from video imitation. DeLoache and Korac noted that children do learn from these programs, although not as early as they can learn from direct interaction with other humans.Children as young as fourteen months have been observed to show learning behaviors (perceiving and interpreting the action, forming a memory representation of the action and then retrieving the representation at some later time) from behaviors observed on television. However, this is several months later than children have been obse rved to perform the same learning behavior in response to interaction with people. From this the conclusion can be drawn that children can display learning and socialization behaviors from television, though not as effectively as from person to person interaction.A review of literature regarding language socialization and television, including television commercials, learning programs and other forms of television aimed at children or viewed by children indicates that language socialization is provided by television, but at a lower quality than that provided by personal interaction with peers and adult caregivers. DeLoache and Korac indicated that television can provide learning opportunities for children, though not at as high a quality as personal interaction; children were seen to learn from television at a later age and a lower rate than from other people. Neuman demonstrated that television, particularly television that is not designed to provide socialization for children, cou ld negatively affect listening behavior.Additionally, some forms of children’s programming, which are rapidly paced and change content quickly, lead to inadequate language socialization as children are left unable to recognize new words outside of their original context. Coats and Feldman examined the effect of television on non-verbal socialization in children. They determined that children with high levels of television viewing had an inaccurate view of the frequency and appropriateness of non-verbal emotional expression, which could lead to a social disadvantage in a culture which values control of emotional expression. Barling and Fullagar found that children had no explicit understanding of the purpose or meaning of television advertising, where Bradbury stated that children continued to lack understanding of the purpose of television advertising as late as age twelve. Durkin and Judge determined that negative portrayal of ethnic minorities on television might affect lan guage socialization.Examination of literature indicates that while television viewing may have some limited positive effect on language socialization and learning behaviors, it is unlikely to be a substitute for personal interaction between peers and adult caregivers. Children were shown to have less understanding of appropriate social cues and behaviors, and did not retain as much language information due to inappropriate presentation and inadequate time to process and retain knowledge. Commercials pose a particular problem because they not only use a limited language set, but also portray and enforce an inappropriate consumerist attitude which children are unable to distinguish as not being the cultural norm.Works CitedBarling, Julian & Fullagar, Clive. â€Å"Children’s Attitudes to Television Advertisements: AFactorial Perspective.† The Journal of Psychology. 113 (1983):25-30.Bradbury, Paul. â€Å"Television Advertising to Children – To Regulate or Legislate ?†Children & Society. 14 (2004):73-75.Coats, Eric & Feldman, Robert. â€Å"The Role of Television in the Socialization of Non-Verbal Skills.† Basic and Applied Social Psychology 17.3 (1995): 327-341.DeLoache, Judy & Korac, Nada. â€Å"Video-based Learning by Very Young Children.†Developmental Science. 6.3(2003):245-246.Durkin, Kevin & Judge, Jasmine. â€Å"Effects of language and social behavior on children’sreactions to foreign people on television.† British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 19 (2001):597-612.Neuman, Susan. â€Å"Listening Behavior and Television Viewing.† Journal of EducationalResearch. 74.1 (1980):15-18.

First Few Weeks in High School Essay

High school is an enjoyable, but challenging part of life. From the first day of school to the 5th week of school I was confused, excited, and lost. My challenges are getting A’s in all of my classes and being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. The transition from middle school to high school is a giant leap regarding the amount of work required and the quantity of responsibilities. First of all, from the first Day of high school to the 5th week, I was confused, excited, and lost. For example, I was excited because I wanted to meet new people and extend my leadership skills. In addition, I was confused because it was a whole different schedule and there was a variety of new topics that I had never heard about. Furthermore, I was lost because the school was enormous and there were a lot of new things to deal with. To conclude, during the first five weeks I still felt like it was summer so I didn’t have my act together which made a couple of things tough on me. Secondly, I have set up a couple of challenges and had a few successful moments. One of my challenges is getting A’s in all of my classes. Another challenge I havpre is being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. In conclusion I have challenged myself by setting up a few challenges that I must accomplish and I have had a couple successful moments so far in high school. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. Even though I am in my first  year of high school planning ahead for my future is good because that way I can prepare for what is coming and I won’t have to do anything at the last minute. AVID also helps increase people public speaking skills which is a crucial aspect required for a lot of things that may occur in the future. Another thing AVID provides is community service, which gets you involved with the community. To finish off with, AVID is a great and important program if you want to succeed in high school and in the rest of your life. In conclusion, the transition from middle school to high school is a giant leap regarding the amount of work required and the quantity of responsibilities. From the first day of school to the 5th week of school I was confused, excited, and lost. My challenges are getting A’s in all of my classes and being one of the top students in my classes. My successful moments have been getting A’s on my History, English, Geometry, and Biology tests. My goal in AVID is to find which college would best suit me. Also, I would like to increase my public speaking skills. High school may seem hard with all the work, but It can be easy if you really try and put your mind to it.

Homer Barron’s remains that lay on the bed

It was Homer Barron’s remains that lay on the bed in one   of the rooms of the old Grierson house, found there forty years after his disappearance.   The circumstances and events cited by the author of the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† point out to this inevitable conclusion.Only a person with an abnormal state of mind would suffer a dead man to lie unburied for years, mouldering right inside a room in her house. When some of the neighbours complained of the foul smell, Miss Emily acted as if nothing was wrong: the men who had surreptitiously entered her lawn to spread lime over the ground saw her sitting inside one of the rooms.   Unknown to them at that time, she was perhaps keeping vigil or visiting her lover’s corpse.That she would lie down with him night after night – evidenced by the â€Å"long strand of iron-gray hair† found in the indentation in the pillow beside him –   bespeaks of her utter loss of sanity, which was no t so visible at first. That Miss Emily suffered from emotional instability – a streak of madness in her – becomes apparent as the story unfolds.Cloistered in the ancient Grierson mansion, Miss Emily is seen as someone above the average citizen: her supposed lineage kept people at bay.   She ignored tax notices sent after her father died; either she did not comprehend, or she had naively believed the old tale that the townspeople were indebted to her family.   She is impervious   and cold, seemingly devoid of any emotion, as if lost in a   world only she knows about.We find the first strong evidence of her unnatural state of mind when her father dies: she refuses for three days to have him buried, telling the mourners he was not dead.   â€Å"We did not say she was crazy then,† narrates the author.   The people saw her grief as evidence of a despairing helplessness, feeling herself so alone, still unmarried, her father having driven away those young m en who had earlier proposed to her.We are told that Miss Emily â€Å"had some kin in Alabama; but years ago her father had fallen out with them over the estate of old lady Wyatt, the crazy woman . . . â€Å" Here is yet another hint that madness ran in the family.When she and Homer Barron are seen together, causing a scandal among the townsfolk, the Baptist minister is sent to talk to her.   The minister does not say what transpired during their interview but he refuses to go back (and talk to her) again.Perhaps the minister was taken aback by Miss Emily’s haughty demeanor as that she displayed when she vanquished the town officials who had demanded from her payment of taxes.   Or maybe the minister saw something frightful in Emily’s eyes that he refused to talk to her again.

Research Study Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research Study Analysis - Essay Example The sampling procedure was systematic. Participants were identified based on previous research and reflections. The sources were invited to participate after being informed about the nature of the study. The theme of the research was recognized as multidimensional. This is the reason why different sets of questionnaires were designed - all focusing on relevant and diverse aspects of the teaching experience in order to comprehensively describe and address the research problem. While there were no face-to-face interviews, observations or focus group discussion, a total of five questionnaire models were used to gather and evaluate experiences. These are the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI), Negative Mood Regulation (NMR), COPE, Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey, and Brief Symptoms Inventory. They were designed to measure variables in areas of stress, burnout, coping, negative mood and distress. While the study involved no open-ended question either, the survey questions provided were all designed to reveal highly detailed personal experiences and quantify them. For instance, respondents were asked to rate their responses to items such as Did you feel lonely?" or "Did you feel ke yed up". These questions were asked after situations were provided, which is consistent with the phenomenological technique of describing experiences, as a crucial element in data gathering and interpretation. The researchers established their research paradigm by introducing epistemological and axiological assumptions. This was achieved when assumptions about stress, burnout and coping strategies were provided. For example, teachers were specifically identified as the subject of the research because they were assumed to have more difficult work tasks and, hence, would be more prone to stress and burnout. This was also highlighted with the fact that the data was gathered from self-report questionnaires. What this

Roman Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Roman Empire - Essay Example 136 ) marks a significant episode in Rome’s military history, for they nearly lost the war to Hannibal, a great Carthaginian general. With the defeat of Hannibal at Zama by the Roman general Scipio, and the experience gained during the war, Rome appears to have learnt a lot from it and harbored bitter feelings at least for Carthage for the damages Hannibal caused; ravaging much of their homeland and leaving it in a deplorable state. The effect of this was to be seen in the manner in which Rome later formulated strategies, for tactical reasons, in handling her allies and foes in an attempt to expand and consolidate her empire. Indeed, it is the Punic wars that saw the rise of the Roman Empire and echoed the thud falling of the republic. With the fall of Carthage, The Romans inflicted severe punishment on her, an attempt which was meant to ensure that Carthage remained subservient. In the treaty signed between the two, Carthage agreed to Scipio’s terms which required her to pay Rome an indemnity of 10,000 talents in the subsequent five decades. In addition, Carthage was not to enter into any war without Rome’s consent and was to surrender her navy; all her warships and elephants (Koeller 2005).This defeat, coupled with the unfriendly Scipio’s terms, humbled Carthage and the Romans felt that the punishment rendered her toothless and that she was never to bite again, leave alone bark at Rome. In using this approach, Rome successfully managed to tame and robe Carthage of her political power making her to coil her tail, but not for long. Rome was not done with Carthage just yet. In a move seen as one to expand its empire, Rome turned its rage on the Kingdoms that did offer support to Hannibal during the war. Such were the kingdom of Macedon and some parts of Greece .This also saw the Mediterranean islands and Spain cede to Rome. Another score card at Rome’s disposal that came into effect during this period was the adoption of a rapa cious and brutal foreign policy: diplomacy based on trickery rather than on true valor. Lewis and Reinhold 1990 p. 202-203 provides succinctly how Rome, with their act of deceit, hoodwinked king Perseus, tactfully, with a scheme that saw him disadvantaged in a war Rome undeservingly won. Reporting their mission to the senate, notes Reinhold and Lewis, Marcius and Atillus were acknowledged for having shown skillful management in the execution of their mandate and their mission was approved. Though not a unilateral senate decision (with the older senators not amused with this decision terming it contrary to Roman traditions), the cunning diplomacy saw the day. It is in light of the above perhaps, that ruthless oppression became synonymous to Roman rule as seen in the acts of such individuals as Servius Salpicius Galba, the praetor of Farther Spain. Galba, during the war with the Lusitanians, committed a terrible atrocity, one which Reinhold terms as ‘treacherous annihilation of a disarmed populace.’ Disguised as a peace maker and a sympathizer to the Lusitanians, Galba cunningly laid a snare in which his prey unsuspectingly got trapped. Defenseless and disadvantaged as they were, the Lusitanians were easily slewed by the Roman soldiers. This unfriendly Rome’s foreign policy subjected onto uninviting kingdoms appears to have worked in Rome’

Explain why american support for britain between 1939 41 'stopped Essay

Explain why american support for britain between 1939 41 'stopped short of war' - Essay Example This explains why America and Britain remained so diplomatically cordial up until the war. Isolationism was a very popular political position during the 1930's and is very much to blame for why the United States did little to prevent the gradual slide of the world's major powers into a war that it would inevitably be drawn into as well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and in retrospect it appears that isolationism might not have been the best political stance for America to take between 1939 and 1941. In Ross Kennedy's publication The Ideology of American Isolationism 1931-1939, he analyzes the ideals inherent in isolationist theory. It is his view that that core belief in isolationism by the people stemmed from a lack of faith in the world power politics of the day (Kennedy, 2002). This basically boiling don't to the fact that the American people along with the American government had premature collective security, and collective security schemes lead to the practicing of power politics. Most Americans felt that to involve their country in this global competition would result in the loss of American Freedoms at home. Power politics are attributed to imperial rivalries, imperialism stemming from territorial trade of raw materials war during 1939. Germany, Italy and Japan were all deemed have-not nations. Secretary of State William Castle explained it as they want colonies as an outlet for their surplus population. They want raw materials (Kennedy, 2002). These have not countries were attempting to commandeer and then colonize France and England in hopes profiting off of their raw materials. This of course had very little to do with the Unites States, so in the tradition of isolationism, America sought to remain neutral. Another aspect of power politics that Americans disapproved of was what they considered to be devious and immoral tactics inherent in the European method. The week Nazi Germany signed its non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, The journal known as the main proponent of isolationism, The New Republic published this statement, European affairs are still full of insincerity, devi ous methods, secrets and surprises, and we should not be taken aback at any treachery or weakness (Kennedy, 2002). It was a common belief among Americans that Europeans were not to be trusted pertaining to their use of power politics. When asked about it Herbert Hoover said, when we talk of using force of any kind, we are playing power politics at the European chess table (Kennedy, 2002). The prime example of this belief in action is the signing of the Versailles treaty, which ended World War I. It can be considered a form of coercion, since it was signed at the end of a gun. Tactics like these have a tradition in America as far back as the American revolutionary war, and they all tend to be driven by monetary gain. In his essay, The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, Keith Krawczynksi, convinced that men were motivated primarily by economic self-interest and that class conflict pervaded human events, argues that the Founding Fathers carried out a counterrevolution by creating a reactionary document to protect their interests against popularly controlled state governments that passed cheap paper money legislation, debtor laws, and other measures that favored small farmers and artisans at the expense of wealthy creditors (2003). To